Janus Syndicate
The Janus Syndicate was a fictional crime syndicate featured in the 1995 James Bond film GoldenEye. According to Bond, they were "top-flight arms dealers headquartered in St Petersburg", and were responsible for restocking the Iraqis during the 1990–91 Gulf War. MI6 was initially unaware that their leader was none other than former 00-Agent, Alec Trevelyan. The name of the organization and Trevelyan's nom de guerre, is derived from the eponymous two-faced god who simultaneously looks at the future and past, as well as being the master of beginnings and endings. The two faces of Janus are a constant theme in GoldenEye, as Trevelyan sustains burns to his face that give him a double-faced appearance, falling in line with his two-faced and traitorous nature. Film appearance In 1986, Alec Trevelyan staged his own death at the Arkhangelsk chemical weapons facility in the Soviet Union. With his superiors and associates believing him to be deceased, he was able to establish the Janus crime syndicate without fear of detection. While it was unknown approximately when the Syndicate rose to prominence, it is known that the organization was fully operational during the events of the Gulf War (2 August 1990 – 28 February 1991), acting as an arms dealer for the Iraqi forces. Nine years after Trevelyan's 'death', during the events of GoldenEye, the British intelligence services knew relatively little about the organization, with M noting that almost nothing was known about the head man, and the only confirmed contact was former Soviet pilot and Janus operative, Xenia Onatopp. The Janus crime syndicate was used by Trevelyan to achieve his ambition of taking revenge against Britain for the supposed betrayal of his parents and the rest of the Cossacks at Lienz in 1945. His scheme involved the hijacking of a secret Soviet space weapon, code-named "GoldenEye". With the weapon's control key in his possession, Trevelyan planned to steal $4,318,410,380 from the Bank of England before erasing it's financial records with the GoldenEye's electromagnetic pulse, concealing the theft and devastating Britain's economy. The syndicate was more than likely to have met it's demise after the failure of Trevelyan's plan, as a large portion of its members had been killed during their multiple confrontations with Bond, coupled with the fact that all components of the GoldenEye were destroyed along with their base of operations, leaving the organization in financial ruin. Alternate continuities GoldenEye novelization GoldenEye 007 ''GoldenEye 007'' (1997) and ''GoldenEye 007'' (2010) both parallel the plot of the film, and incorporate many the same characters and elements of the film. In the 2010 remake, the group hopes to accomplish the same mission with the same characters, albeit with some major alterations from the film. This includes the lack of Trevelyan's scarred face as a result of the explosion Bond caused at Arkhangel, different circumstances surrounding Alec's motives for betraying the British government, and the omission of Boris. Janus is one of the three teams that a player can be placed on in the online mode of ''GoldenEye 007: Reloaded'' (Matches consist of MI6 versus either the Russians or Janus). Known members and associates *Alec Trevelyan - The key figure and founder and the Janus crime syndicate. Initially another 00 agent and Bond's friend, he fakes his death at Arkhangelsk in 1986, which in-turn, gives him leeway to operate his organization over the following nine years. *Xenia Onatopp - A sadomasochistic ex-militant and Trevelyan's henchwoman, she enjoys torturing her enemies between her thighs. *General Arkady Grigorovich Ourumov - Commander of Russia's Space Division, secretly an agent of Janus who nefariously misuses his authority and position in order to help Janus gain access to the GoldenEye. *Boris Grishenko - A computer programmer at Severnaya who is secretly affiliated with Janus. Trivia *The emblem of the Janus group that was designed for the 2010 video game (seen in the description box), is a fond tribute to Baron Samedi. A favorite among fans, he made a guest appearance in the original 1997 game as both the boss of a secret bonus mission, and as a popular playable character in multiplayer mode. *The group can be seen as somewhat of a spiritual successor to SPECTRE as the two are both criminal organisations with aspirations of creating worldwide pandemonium. See also *SPECTRE *The Union References Category:Organizations Category:Criminal organizations